Early order programs: Planning, savings and a look back on their evolution

When we got busy creating this month’s annual Early Order Program Guide — now in its 11th year — it made me say to myself, “Man, we’ve been doing this forever.” Which then led me to ask myself … how long have EOPs even been around?

This is what inspired the 1970s theme of this insert (no, EOPs don’t go back nearly that far) and me asking a bunch of friends in the industry for their earliest recollections of EOPs.

Talking 2025 U.S. Amateur

I was on a Zoom call with Troy Flanagan, director of golf course maintenance at the Olympic Club in San Francisco right before they were about to host the 2025 U.S. Amateur. I asked Troy for his earliest recollections, and he’s pretty sure there weren’t EOPs when he got his start (1998), but he does think they came around shortly after — the early 2000s for sure.

“(EOPs) are big for a course like ours,” Flanagan says. “And the guys in the Midwest and out east, the amount of fungicide those guys buy? It’s a pretty big nugget.”

Flanagan says most of their EOP is spent with Envu and Synegnta, with some other manufacturers mixed in.

“The terms are nice — we get it now and we pay in June,” Flanagan says. “If you spend over a certain amount, you get 10 percent back in a rebate check the next year. Ten percent — that’s real money. For me, I get that rebate check in September, and that’s the last month of our fiscal year. It’s nice to give the accounting department this check to offset chemical expenses.”

I asked Flanagan, who has clearly been a successful superintendent over the last 27 years, what he does to ensure his EOP is a win for the club. His advice?

“I sit down with my two superintendents, and we go over our programs for the next year — what did we do this last year, what should we change next year?” he told me. “We figure out all the quantities, write all that down and try to predict what we’ll do in the next year. I just buy based on that. I don’t over-buy or under-buy.

“It’s a lot of planning,” Flanagan continued. “Just do the best planning. And certain vendors are very good — when you send them your purchase, they then look to see if there are packs that can be brought together that can bring you savings. There are so many combo chemicals nowadays; we might not see something, and they’ll help you find those savings. Hopefully you have vendors like that — we do.”

EOP season has begun

What follows in this EOP special insert is a story of how some old school superintendents made do before EOPs, manufacturers suggesting one product you should consider for your purchase and the EOPs for many of our partners who make this section possible.

It’s that time of the year — I hope you nail your EOP, and I hope in some way this guide provides a little help.